Claire is currently 23 months! I’m working on catching up on organizing all my notes on her and Emma and fortunately was able to dig these up. Enjoy!

We Have a Climber!

Michael’s Mom says he was a climber, so we will assume the monkey in Claire comes from him. I put Claire in her crib for an afternoon nap one day and she was not happy about it. She was screaming and crying but I figured she would calm down and go to sleep in a few minutes.

I happened to leave my phone in her room so had to go right back in to grab it. Thankfully I did because I literally caught her as she was about to escape the crib head first! Fortunately we found this cute crib tent so we now have the reassurance that she can’t get out. She has also been known to climb up on the ottoman in her room or an end table in the living room and play king of the mountain.

Upgraded to Big Sister Status

Claire became a big sister on September 16th. I had heard people say that when you bring a new baby home to your toddler, your toddler suddenly seems like a giant. I wouldn’t have known how true this was until we got home and I first held Claire. I couldn’t believe how heavy she felt when I picked her up and how much of a little girl she has turned into in such a short time.

In the days that followed Emma coming into our home, I realized how much of a different person post-Emma Claire is to me. More than anything, I realized how much more I appreciate her, because seeing how tiny Emma is and now how big Claire is finally showed me how quickly she is growing. It seems weird, but I feel like I don’t even remember her right before we went to the hospital. Like she seems like she must be 10 pounds heavier. I asked Michael if he felt like she had changed drastically overnight and he confirmed that no, she did not, so I guess it’s just me. But I’m glad because I now feel more aware of how fast she is growing.

Currently Obsessed With:

• Climbing up on the chair in her room to turn the lights & fan on and off
• Putting her shoes on: she has a cute pair of pink shoes that my friend Nicole gave me when she was a newborn (which I thought she would never grow into) and she loves bringing them to us so we can put them on her feet
• Having her hair blow dried: she loves it and dances and screams!
• Going outside: loves going to the park and running and screaming through the grass. Also picking flower petals off the bushes.
• Putting a blanket over her head and walking around the house bumping into things. She thinks it’s hilarious! It is pretty funny, and also a clear indication that bedtime is upon us.
• The Princess Diaries 1 & 2 are still her all time favorite movies, with a favor for 2 (or is that me? ;))
• Spirit seems to be her favorite show, other than Daniel Tiger. She mostly loves the Spirit theme song. She stomps her feet and jumps up and down and squeals during the song.

Cutest Thing

Currently, the cutest thing was watching her make friends at the park. My brother Joey and his fiancé Conny were visiting from Norway and discovered a huge park 2 miles from our new house. We walked there and when we arrived Joey naturally followed her around the park. I was busy feeding Emma, but suddenly noticed that Claire appeared to be interacting with a little girl about twice her size. She was kind of gently picking at the little girl’s pink tulle skirt, then looked up and reached up her arms to give a big hug. It was soooooo cute! Then she saw the little girl’s little brother about three feet away and ran over to him and gave him a big hug!

We were all laughing. They started taking her around the park for a few minutes and Claire kept up pretty good. We found out her name was Avonlee. Avonlee noticed Claire’s interest in the leaves, so she picked up 4 leaves and asked Claire which one she would like. Then she said “why don’t you take all of these leaves and take them over to your family.” It was just the sweetest!